Your Introduction Name, birthday, birthplace Biography Review “Other” Name, birthday, birthplace Introduce your genre or series Attention Grabbing Hook 2-4 “lifetime accomplishments” Narrow Down to Topic What’s special about your item Introduce Topic THESIS STATEMENT: What understanding will the reader take away from your article?

Name the main topic of the essay Thesis must: Name the main topic of the essay Give brief description of what essay will teach the reader Give clear purpose to the essay

Thesis Statement Examples Good Examples: “Despite all the tragedies and injuries he suffered from, Adrian Peterson was able to overcome these obstacles to become one of the greatest running backs ever.” “With so many options, you don’t have to leave anything behind with the BauBax Jacket.” “In life and death, J.R.R. Tolkien set the bar for fantasy writers around the world.”

Thesis Statement Examples Need Improvement: “In this article, I will tell you about what problems, victories, and life-changing moments that all happened to this great artist.” “If you want to learn more, then keep reading.” “Get MLB The Show 16 and leave your legacy.” “Even though the tablet is great for business, it does other things too.”

Body Paragraphs Body paragraphs need to be written in RATES structure. In an essay this looks like the following: Topic Sentence – One main point about the topic. Everything in the paragraph supports this main point. Evidence – Information (facts, data, quotes) taken from a credible source. Explanation – How/why does your information support your topic sentence. Concluding Statement – Restate the main idea of your paragraph.

Strong Example Ariana Grande achieved so many things in her early life that lead to her career today. Ariana Grande was born June 26, 1993 in Boca Raton. At 15 years old, she played the role of Charlotte in the musical 13. This was a huge achievement for Ariana because it led her to even bigger roles in the future. Ariana also played in Cuba Libre and Batteries Down in 2010. She then won the National Youth Award. These roles were one of the most important achievements that led to even bigger roles . These roles and experiences are very impressive for someone at a young age. Ariana achieved many things in her early life that would help her in the future.

Common Issues Facts Only Will Ferrell’s acting career started around 1980 on Saturday Night Live. He started as a comedian. In 2004, he stared in the film Anchorman as the main character Ron Burgundy. He starred in the film Step Brothers in 2008 along side his co- star John C. Riley. Most recently, he starred in the films Daddy’s Home (2015), Get Hard (2015), and The Lego Movie (2014). Now you can see that Will Ferrell is a successful actor.

Common Issues Weak Explanations The porcupine is on of the toughest animals in the world. The porcupine is the third largest rodent in the world. This fact shows that the porcupine is really big. A porcupine has about 30,000 quills on is body. This quote shows that prorcupies have a lot of quills so they are tough. All these reasons show that porcupines are really tough.

Common Issues No Topic Sentence The New England Patriots have been to the Super Bowl a lot in the last decade. They have one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in Tom Brady. They have a really good running back named LeGarrette Blount. He has 31 career touchdowns and almost 4,000 career yards. The Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2015 against the Seattle Seahawks. The Patriots are owned by Robert Kraft and they play in Gillette Stadium. Their regular season record in the 2015-2016 season is 12-4. They play in the AFC East Division. The Patriots are a good NFL team.

2016 Goal Setting It’s a new year, and we about 3 weeks left in the first semester, so it’s a great time to do some goal- setting. I want you to come up with one personal goal and one academic goal for the rest of the school year. Your goals have to be SMART goals, so they need to cover each of the following criteria. S – specific M – measurable A – attainable R – realistic T - timely By the start of April 2016, I will be running a minimum of 50 miles per week. I will accomplish this goal by slowly building mileage by 10% per week, working up from 20 miles for the week of January 10 – 16.